Hotel Rwanda Quotes

[first lines]

George Rutaganda: [voiceover] When people ask me, good listeners, why do I hate all the Tutsi, I say, "Read our history." The Tutsi were collaborators for the Belgian colonists, they stole our Hutu land, they whipped us. Now they have come back, these Tutsi rebels. They are cockroaches. They are murderers. Rwanda is our Hutu land. We are the majority. They are a minority of traitors and invaders. We will squash the infestation. We will wipe out the RPF rebels. This is RTLM, Hutu power radio. Stay alert. Watch your neighbours.

Dube: Aah, that is a fine cigar, sir!

Paul Rusesabagina: This is a Cohiba cigar. Each one is worth 10,000 francs.

Dube: 10,000 francs?

Paul Rusesabagina: Yes, yes. But it is worth more to me than 10,000 francs.

Dube: What do you mean, sir?

Paul Rusesabagina: If I give a businessman 10,000 francs, what does that matter to him? He is rich. But, if I give him a Cohiba cigar straight from Havana, Cuba. Hey, that is style, Dube.

Dube: [smiles] Style!

Paul Rusesabagina: I am glad that you have shot this footage and that the world will see it. It is the only way we have a chance that people might intervene.

Jack: Yeah and if no one intervenes, is it still a good thing to show?

Paul Rusesabagina: How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?

Jack: I think if people see this footage they'll say, "oh my God that's horrible," and then go on eating their dinners.

[pause]

Jack: What the hell do I know?

[last lines]

Pat Archer: [walking with family towards bus] They said that there wasn't any room.

Paul Rusesabagina: There's always room.

Paul Rusesabagina: General, these are difficult times, we need to help one another.

General Bizimungu: And what help can I get from you, Paul?

Paul Rusesabagina: You are a marked man, sir!

General Bizimungu: How so?

Paul Rusesabagina: You're on a list, the Americans have you on a list as a war criminal!

General Bizimungu: Paul, I am sick and tired of your lies.

Paul Rusesabagina: Are you stupid General? How do you think these people operate? You sit here with five stars on your chest! Who do you think they're coming after?

[pause]

Paul Rusesabagina: Fine, we will go to Gitzarama and you will stay on that list.

General Bizimungu: I committed no war crimes.

Paul Rusesabagina: Who will tell them? You need me to tell them how you helped at the hotel. They blame you for all their misfortunes. They say you lead the massacres!

General Bizimungu: I lead no massacres!

Paul Rusesabagina: Do you think they will believe you?

General Bizimungu: You will tell them the truth!

Paul Rusesabagina: I will tell them nothing unless you help me!

[General Bizimungu reaches for his gun]

Paul Rusesabagina: What- what are you going to do... shoot me? Shoot me. Please shoot me. It would be a blessing. I will pay you to shoot my family. You can not hurt me.

General Bizimungu: You will tell them I did nothing!

Paul Rusesabagina: We are leaving. Right now.

Paul Rusesabagina: Hundreds, there were too many to count.

Dube: Why are people so cruel?

Paul Rusesabagina: Hatred... Insanity... I don't know...

Tatiana Rusesabagina: [while watching a neighbor get beaten] Do something.

Paul Rusesabagina: Do what?

Tatiana Rusesabagina: Call someone.

Paul Rusesabagina: [after shutting the gate] There is nothing we can do.

[about the Tutsi]

Paul Rusesabagina: You cannot seriously think that you can kill them all.

George Rutaganda: And why not? We are halfway there already.

Dube: [Dube, after running through the hotel lobby with a leaking cooler of lobster, quickly empties the cooler in a sink. Water, ice, and lobsters come gushing out into the sink and onto the surrounding counter. Some of the water, ice and one of the lobsters fall on the floor] Oh, Shit! Oh, sorry, sir.

Head Chef: Ten Alive, twelve are dead.

Paul Rusesabagina: All Right... But save the shells. Fill them with... a stuffing. The good meat and something local.

Head Chef: Cassava?

Paul Rusesabagina: And... the fish?

Head Chef: And tipali?

Paul Rusesabagina: - Yes, We'll call it "Fresh Lobster in a Cassava and Tipali Crust." Dube?

Dube: Style, sir?

Paul Rusesabagina: Yes, sir.

[end title cards]

Title card: Paul Rusesabagina sheltered 1268 Tutsi and Hutu refugees at the Milles Collines Hotel in Kigali.

Title card: Paul and Tatiana now live in Belgium with their children, Roger, Diane, Lys, Tresor and their adopted nieces Anais and Carine.

Title card: Tatiana's brother Thomas and his wife Fedens were never found.

Title card: In 2002, General Augustin Bizimungu was captured in Angola and transported to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in Tanzania. At the same tribunal the Interhamwe leader George Rutuganda was sentenced to life in prison.

Title card: The genocide ended in July 1994, when the Tutsi rebels drove the Hutu army and the Interhamwe militia across the border into the Congo.

Title card: They left behind almost a million corpses.

Paul Rusesabagina: All day long I work to please this officer, that diplomat, some tourist to store up favors so if there is a time when we need help I have powerful people I can call upon.

Tatiana Rusesabagina: But Victor was a good neighbor.

Paul Rusesabagina: He is not family. Family is all that matters.

Paul Rusesabagina: They told me I was one of them, and I... the wine, chocolates, cigars, style... I swallowed it. I swallowed it, I swallowed all of it. And they handed me their shit. I have no... no history. I have no memory. I'm a fool, Tati.

Tatiana Rusesabagina: You are no fool. I know who you are.

Paul Rusesabagina: [Paul finds his family hiding in a bathtub. They panic, and Tantiana brandishes the moveable showerhead like a gun] No, no! It's me!

[they all hug and exchange soothing words, he picks up the showerhead]

Paul Rusesabagina: What were you going to do with this?

Tatiana Rusesabagina: [shaking her head, laughing] I don't know.

[they all laugh, relieved]